The Other Magical Creature
by musicalgirl4474
Summary: It starts out as a normal morning. Well... normal for Holly Short. But with one call by Commander Kelp, her life changes, and she's sent on another mission with Artemis Fowl, Mulch Diggums, and, of course, Butler. To find someone with more magic than No. 1. What could possibly go wrong? Teen 'cause I want to be safe.
1. Abnormal Magical Readings

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of Eoin Colfer. No copyright infringement is intended In the slightest.

Haven. In the morning. Not the easiest city to get through, and Holly was lucky to be only four minutes late. Although Commander Trouble Kelp would probably say that she was 'a whole four minutes late'. Almost as soon as she got to her office, a message came through.

"Captain Short," said Commander Kelp, "We need you to come down to ops. Immediately."

"Coming, Commander." She said, and rushed out of her office toward the operations booth. If the commander wanted her there, then things must be pretty serious. Indeed, when she got there, the Commander and Foaly were huddled together speaking quietly in hushed tones. That can't be good. The Commander and Foaly didn't normally get along very well. Even though Foaly claimed that marriage had mellowed him.

"What's wrong?" she asked the two of them.

"The Pony Boy's sensors have caught an... anomaly. A very serious anomaly."

"OK,I'm still confused."

"Do you know about the mag sensors?" asked the Commander.

Holly did know. The mag sensors could sense the amount of magic in a living being or place. This was handy to find runners, magical hot-spots, and, more importantly, it could detect whether any humans had been mesmerized. Could be useful in the field. It operated on the colors of the spectrum, like one of those human weather satellites. Black was no magic, and violet was a lot of magic.

"Yes sir, I do. So, what happened?"

"Well, this happened," said Foaly, pulling up a screen.

"I'm not sure what I'm looking at. I didn't know what white was in this spectrum."

"That's because it normally isn't. White is well... more than a lot of magic. The only white we ever get is around extremely magical sites. Whoever this is, they're so magical that their magic is whiting out everything else within a fifty mile radius. The readings are fuzzy until 100 miles out."

Holly blew out a breath. "That is one magical fairy." She said.

"No," said Foaly, "that magical source is above ground. And has been all it's life. Any fairy with that kind of magic would have been singled out at school quite quickly. It would have shown up on records. Trust me, this particular being has never set foot in Haven or Atlantis. And is a threat to the people. It is just possible that the humans have already noticed something odd about whoever this being is."

"Isn't it possible that this creature is an animal? Not humanoid at all?" asked Holly.

"Afraid not, Captain," said Commander Kelp. "This being, whoever it is, has moved across oceans. Plus, the scopes that Foaly trained on this spot come up with only one similarity. The perp is humanoid, but that is almost worse. It could be a mud person. Currently, it is in the Chicago area, but moving up toward Wisconsin."

"It's in America then? Why are we worried about it? And why didn't it show up as soon as you created these sensors?" Holly asked, trying to find any clues about this mysterious creature. Since she had been called to this meeting, she supposed that she would be the one sent to find this magical source.

"Well, It's not always there. At first I thought that it might be a computer glitch, but it's not. This creature, whatever it is, is in a different country after each blank." Said Foaly with a shrug and worried look.

"So why me?" asked Holly.

"If you are doing something like this, you may need some human assistance." said Commander Kelp, not looking happy.

Holly could guess why the Commander didn't look happy. "Artemis Fowl?" she asked.

"Yes, Captain Short. Artemis Fowl." Said the Commander, definitely not happy about it. "The Pony Boy here will get you kitted out, and you should definitely take wings and a weapon." The Commander left, and Holly was left with Foaly.

"Okay, I think that you should take an iris cam on this one, Captain. Just in case. You can't be too careful with something like this. We know virtually nothing about the whole thing.

Ten minutes later, Holly was in a pod destined for Ireland, getting ready to go on one of the most confusing missions of her life.


	2. An Old Friend and Secret Thoughts

Artemis was in his study. He ran his hand through his raven- black hair and sighed. It had been forever since Holly had contacted him, and even longer since he had seen her. He had begun to think that he might just do something, maybe ping Haven, just to get to see her again. But he had decided to wait a while longer. Surely Holly would realize sometime in the next month how long it had been since she talked to him. Surely.

"Artemis!" Called his mother from outside the door.

Artemis opened the door and wasn't surprised to see that his mother looked concerned.

"Arty, something's wrong," she said, the concern obvious in her voice. "You spend nearly all day locked up in your study. You hardly interact with us at all. What is it?"

Mother had noticed. "It's nothing, mother."

"No, Arty it's not. How long is it going to take for you to be honest to me the first time I ask you something like this?"

Artemis sighed. "It's Holly. I haven't talked to her for... a month... at least."

"Artemis, I know you miss your friend. But you can't just mope around all day just because of that!"

"OK mother." The fairy communicator was buzzing. Artemis felt his face brightening.

"I really have to go now, mother. It's extremely important."

Angeline looked doubtful. "Okay young man, but we'll talk more about this as soon as you've completed your 'extremely important' work.

"Yes mother. Don't worry, I won't forget."

Artemis waited until his mother had rounded the corner before answering the communicator.

"Hello, Artemis. We haven't talked in a while."

"No, Holly, we haven't. What have you been doing?"

"Oh, don't get mad, Artemis. I have a big mission starting now, and I'll need your help."

"Fine, where are you?" He heard Holly laugh and felt a tingle go down his spine.

"Five feet to your right."

"Well, come into my study."

Once Artemis closed the door, Holly shimmered into the visible spectrum. Artemis felt himself grin. "So, you have another big mission. What is it this time?"

"Well, we're not quite sure. Maybe we should wait for Butler to get here before I start explaining. It's complicated."

Once Artemis had called Butler to his study and the man appeared and said hello to her, Holly explained about her latest mission.

when she had finished, Butler said, "That's it? You're not forgetting the one part that makes the whole thing make sense?" Holly shook her head with a slight smile.

"So," said Artemis, "You are saying that there is some humanoid creature running around with more magic than even Number One has?"

"Yep. And I don't know if they, whoever or whatever they are, will even come quietly once we find them. And if a human finds out about this magic... we could be exposed. But I think that the main reason that they want this creature so badly is so they can study it to see how it has such a high concentration of magic."

"How many people know of this?" asked Artemis.

"Not sure," responded Holly. "Commander Kelp may have told most of the LEP recon squad. But only him, Foaly and me knew about it when I left Haven."

"So why do you think you need my help?"

"Well... they are in Chicago. So... we need human help, in order to remain inconspicuous. Even Butler would look less out of place than A recon fairy in full gear, so, I'll be going as a human girl. That's how we blend in, as for a plan? Well, you're the genius, aren't you, Artemis?"


	3. How To Leave The Manor

When Artemis had asked every other question he could think of, he asked, "What should I say to my parents Holly? I don't think that they'd want me to go on another fairy adventure."

Holly looked at him frankly. "You're the genius, Arty, not me. You decide something to say to them. But I think your right when you say it would be best not to tell them the truth."

. . .

Artemis found his father in the library with Myles and Beckett. "What is it Arty?" his father asked distractedly as he watched Myles attempting to teach Beckett something or other.

"I'm going to America, father. There is a display of some of the newest technology in the Chicago Museum of science and industry."

His father looked at him. "Why Artemis? You no doubt know all about this technology that they will be exhibiting."

"The technology is not even out on the market, but I want to see exactly how it works firsthand. This technology is different than anything on the market presently, or so the company claims, though I, for one, doubt this claim."

"Have you told your mother this, Artemis?"

"No, could you tell her for me?" asked Artemis hopefully. His mother would certainly guess that there was something he wasn't telling her.

"Sure, Artemis." Artemis felt relieved, and loved his brothers even more, as they're arguing had caused his father to lose his concentration for a moment.

. . .

Holly felt a little apprehensive about the mission ahead, mostly because of the scant information that they had, but also because she had to blend as much as possible into the human population of Chicago, and so only had an earpiece, a mike, and iris cam. And the earpiece had only come after a certain amount of begging on her part. She looked at Artemis, sitting quietly in one of the jet's seats.

"Any idea how to start, Artemis?" she asked.

He looked up. "Not quite, Holly. Chicago is a big city. And we can't exactly ask the police to help."

"You said not quite, so what do you have so far?"

Artemis smiled. "Unless I'm mistaken, Mulch lived in Chicago for a time."

"Yes, he did," confirmed Holly, not sure where this was going, but getting a bad feeling.

"And also," continued Artemis, "I'm assuming that whoever this magical creature is, they are in the middle of the interference."

"Not necessarily," said Holly cryptically.

"But it's a place to start," argued Artemis. "I've found the approximate middle of the interference. It's in one of the poorer districts, to put it nicely. Mulch could come in handy if we run into any trouble. And it's just his kind of people, so he could find anyone who doesn't quite fit in."

"Yes, if Mulch agrees. He's not a convict anymore, you know. He doesn't need to help us."

"He will," Artemis said. "We're his friends after all. And don't tell me that you haven't been at least a little bored over the past months. No big 'saving the world' kind of adventures. Mulch is probably bored too."

"Okay, he'll probably want to help, but I doubt that they can get him to Chicago Airport by the time we get there."

"That would be true," said Foaly in her earpiece, "unless Mulch was already under the Americas. We can send him a message as soon as you like."

"Oh, go ahead," sighed Holly.

Artemis smiled.

A/N: I really appreciate reviews, and the fast I get them, the faster I update.


	4. A Kinda Big Problem

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to ****_shaadiaThePrincessOfWeird_**** for all the reviews!**

Mulch was indeed waiting for them when the jet landed at the Chicago airport. He was wearing human cloths, though those were the kind of cloths that he normally wore.

"Hello Mulch," said Holly, "How've you been?"

"Not too bad, Captain."

"How's the PI work going?" She asked.

"Goin' good Holly," he responded.

"Now that we've dispensed with the formalities, I think we'd best get going. This creature could move at any time, then I need to find the middle of the interference again, and that could take a while." Artemis said.

"Good to see you too, mud boy." Mulch said, raising his eyebrows.

"So, where exactly is the approximate middle of the interference?" asked Holly.

"Somewhere, probably an alley, off North Clark Street." Artemis said.

"That's not much to go on," noted Butler.

"I know, but it's a place to start. And we don't have anything else to go on at the moment."

"True," said Butler, "but we'll need to be careful. The alleyways of Chicago are not particularly safe places."

"I'd noticed," said Artemis dryly, as they walked out of the airport. "Holly, you need to keep that hood up until we can find you a hat that fits your head. And covers those ears of yours."

Holly rolled her eyes. The hood drooped slightly over her eyes and she found this extremely annoying for some reason. "Then I have a feeling I'll be wearing this hood for a very long time, since we're not exactly shopping for hats." She muttered sullenly.

"Cheer up, Captain. If I'm right then we won't have to wait long before we know what we're looking for." Artemis said distractedly, as he looked around.

. . .

"Artemis," said Butler suddenly, "I think there's someone following us."

They were walking toward the road, walking being better than a taxi, because that might draw attention, a taxi pulling up on a street without any stores.

"Your sure?" Artemis asked quietly.

"Of course I'm sure. Whoever it is has been behind us since the airport, and doesn't want to be seen."

"All in black?" asked Holly, scanning the sidewalk behind them casually.

"Yes," the bodyguard said tersely.

"Does it matter?" asked Mulch, but he sounded slightly nervous.

"Yes, it does," answered Holly. "Either someone's after Artemis, or someone has also found out something about this particular person that WE are after as well. Either way, we've got a kinda big problem."

**A/N: Which do you think it is? Is someone after Artemis, or is someone after that really super magical creature? See if you can guess.**


	5. The Quarry and Now REALLY Big Problem

"A kinda big problem that can be dealt with later, when the need arises." Artemis responded, but he looked behind him, and Holly, searching his face, saw, for the first time, a bit of trepidation in that young face. The face, she realized, that was quickly maturing.

Maturing too quickly, she thought. Artemis was too old for his age. WAY too old. She shook her head, dislodging those thoughts until this mission was done and she could speak with her friend. She also ignored the tiny voice in the back of her head that said Artemis was becoming a little MORE than a friend. That could be dealt with later too.

"All the same, Butler, I think you should keep an eye on whoever it is," Artemis said, absently, as he examined the different alleyways. "Here, the being we seek should be in this alleyway. About 100 feet in."

"At last, this is almost over, all this waiting." Foaly's voice conveyed his relief.

"Not nearly over," Holly muttered. "We still have to convince them to come with us."

"Mulch, this is where you really come into play," Artemis stared hard at the dwarf. "I need you to find someone who looks out of place here."

"You mean, apart from you three?" Mulch asked with a gleam in his eye.

"Yes, apart from us three," Holly said, having learned long ago that it was easiest and quickest just to agree with the dwarf.

. . .

A moment later, they had gone about forty feet, Mulch stopped. "There," he said, all seriousness now, "In that doorway. I've noticed that shadow, and it's too sure. Too still. I think that's our quarry."

"Acura magla faindoon. Ac'ameeda hagdoola." Came a voice from the doorway. "Hewrd tyerwif Fequilla."

"Uh..., yeah," holly murmured to Mulch, "I think you're right. Because that's no language that I know. We don't want to hurt you!" she called to the shadow.

"Ah, so you aren't Teya. Good, American. But I can't let you continue to know about me. Teya may have sent you. I'm not going back to the city. NOT!"

"We will not take you to the city. We want to bring you to Haven, so that the Humans don't notice you. That's all."

"That's all a load of dung." The voice answered, and Holly realized that it was a girl's voice. "Although how much, or what is truth, I can't quite tell. I suppose it's because I can't see you. What do you REALLY want?"

"I'm... not sure what the council wants, but I'm sure that they won't hurt you."

"Yeah, sure," the girl sounded sarcastic. "I suppose that you think I'm stupid just because I've lived with Humans for four years, hiding from the rest of my people? Well, I'm not. I'm..."

At that moment, Artemis nodded, and Butler moved from his hiding place and ran towards the place the girl was hiding.

"Missed me." The girl laughed. "You're soo easy to predict, honestly! You won't be getting me that easily. Are you of the Aeri?" she asked suddenly.

Holy's brow wrinkled in confusion. "The Aeri?" asked the elfin captain.

"My people."

"Oh..." Holly's brain went blank. A whole nother family? Oh... D'arvit! She thought. D'arvit. She looked to Artemis, but he wasn't there. "Arty? Arty!" She called, unaware, in her panic, that she was not calling him Artemis, but Arty.

"No use." came the voice behind her. Holly whirled, raising her fists, and saw a girl coming out of the shadows of the doorway. A girl of about 15 with hair such a dark brown that it was almost black. Her dark brown eyes looked at Holly, and it was impossible to see what the girl was thinking in those dark depths. Mulch cursed. Butler spun around.

"What do you mean, 'No use'" he growled.

"I saw what happened. He's nowhere near by now, and probably unconscious in any case. But, in light of what happened, an enemy of my enemy, in this case Teya, is my friend. I suppose I shall go with you if you wish, but I'm guessing that you wish to rescue your friend, what's his name? Artemis?"

"How did you?" gasped Holly, surprised in spite of herself.

"Know?" the girl smirked. "It's right on top of your mind. Plus, Arty is a nickname for the name Artemis. By the way, you're not that easy to read. had any powerful contact with a powerful Warlock? A Demon Warlock, for instance?"

"Yes," Holly answered. She was about to ask how the girl knew THAT, but decided that they could talk when They had Artemis again.


	6. Kidnapped, and a Lucky(so to speak)Break

Artemis's eyes flickered open, but he shut them almost immediately. There was a bright light right in front of his face.. And he also couldn't feel anything beneath his feet. That in itself was interesting, intriguing. As he seemed to have something under his feet, or hands, because he was upright, but again, could not feel anything.

"Ah, so, you're awake."

"Obviously," Artemis muttered. "People who are sleeping don't normally have their eyes flickering open."

Whoever it was either didn't hear, or pretended not to hear. Probably good for Artemis, that. Or the person was likely to be very annoyed. And, as Artemis himself had once said, 'It's not wise to antagonize the hostage holder, they might be unstable.' Nonetheless, Artemis seemed to be attempting to do just that. Slightly hypocritical, no doubt. But, perhaps, effective.

"Who are you?"

"Who do you think?" asked the person, and, even though Artemis knew that this was a mind game, Artemis still tried to think of who this could be. He assumed that this was the person who had been following them, but that was a no brainer. But he had nothing else to do.

"The person who was following us. You were looking for the girl as well."

"Not the girl, no," responded the voice. Artemis realized suddenly that this voice also appeared to belong to a female. "Athena is too hard to catch the way you were trying, although," the voice added, as if as an afterthought, "you did get closer to her than we could. No, we were after you, Fowl."

"Me? Why?"

"Because," said the voice with what sounded like barely concealed impatience. "One thing that Athena always says, is 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend,' and she is the kind of Aeri that is determined to help her friends no matter the danger or the cost."

Artemis realized how big a treasure trove of information these two run-on sentences were. One, the voice wasn't tinny, which would have told Artemis that the person wasn't in the room, or, at least, wasn't using a speaker. Two, the girl's name was Athena, the Goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, just warfare, mathematics, strength, strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill. Artemis also vaguely noted that Minerva was the name of Athena's Roman reincarnation. Three, Those people were of the same species, the Aeri. And four, four, it was likely that they would come after him, and try to rescue him. With that thought, he allowed the darkness already eating away at his vision to overtake him.

. . .

"It must be Teya. She must have heard your broadcast."

"Our broadcasts can't be intercepted, not anymore," objected Foaly.

"If it's a wavelength, we can intercept it," shrugged the girl, who had said her name was Athena.  
"How does this help Artemis?" asked Butler. Although, it is slightly incorrect to say that Butler simply ASKED. More like he GROWLED.

"I know where Teya will have taken your, our, friend. But you won't like it."

"Where?" chorused three voices.

"The Arctic.

"The Arctic," groaned Holly. "Why do so many of our adventures end up, in the Arctic?"  
"It couldn't," groaned Mulch, "be any other place. It HAS to be the Arctic."

"Well, yes. It's one of the least likely places for anyone, human or of the people, to run into it. Literally." Athena closed her eyes, turning her face up to the sun in the sky. She breathed deeply.

"What are you..." Holly began, but her voice trailed away. This creature appeared to be thinking, or searching her mind for something.

"I think..." Athena said slowly, "that we will be able to rescue him relatively quickly. There are just a few things we need. But before I tell you, we need to get somewhere we can speak without anyone overhearing."

"Let's get back to the jet." agreed Butler.

"Hey," Holly muttered to Mulch, "at least we got a lucky, so to speak, break, in that it won't take long."

"Whoopee." muttered the dwarf.


	7. Plans, Problems, and Stupidity

**A/N: This Chapter is dedicated to Catherine, who just NEEDS to read the next chapters. Enjoy :)**

The whip arched across his back, spreading fire through his nerves. That was what woke him. Judging from the state of his body, the stiffness, the dull ache that spread through his muscles, they had been at it for quite a while. Quite a long while. Quite a long long while. If he was right, then this could be the beginning of a better plan than he had been constructing. If this was the type of whip he thought it was… sizzle crack! Ouch, yes it was. Hurt like hell, but at least he would be able to get out of the force-field. When they stopped, and if they left quickly enough.

. . .

The shuttle occupants, especially Butler, were not particularly happy. Butler had been, once again, sprayed with the anti- radiation gel, and it still smelled bad. Still smelled VERY bad. Holly was remembering one of the last times she was here. Julius Root was still alive. She and Mulch suited up, But Athena refused, opting to wear only the grey jumpsuit she had been wearing under her sweatshirt and jeans.

"I'll be fine. This suite is radiation resistant, and it has some heating coils, like yours, and I really don't mind the cold at all."

"Well, you're certainly not a fairy from the eight families."

"The eight families? I learned there were seven." The girl remarked with raised eyebrows.

"The demons recently came back from limbo. Well, we brought them back from limbo with the help of some demon warlocks," explained Holly.

"Oh." Athena looked out the shuttle window at the swirling mass of snow. "OK. We need to find your friend now."

"I thought you said you knew where he was."

"I did. A few minutes ago. I don't think he's there anymore."

"Not there?" three faces looked at her. One curiously and two with terror.

"You mean to say," said Butler with the effort of restraining himself evident in his voice, "that Artemis is out there, in THAT!?" He indicated the swirling blizzard outside the shuttle cockpit window.

Athena gulped. "Yes. I believe so."

Holly felt dread crawl up her spine. Her friend, NOT more than a friend, she told herself crossly. Her friend was out there in a snow storm that seemed to be getting worse every minute. "I'll bring the thermal imager," she heard herself say, but her mind seemed oddly detached from her body by the worry. The worry for Artemis.

"Snap out of it, Captain," she heard Butler say, trying to pull her back to her present . She felt someone grab her hand and suddenly she blinked, her mind back where it needed to be right now. For Artemis.

. . .  
Meanwhile…

Artemis forced his hand up. The whipping had stopped and the person left just moments before, and for a few moments only, the force-field would be a little weaker than normal. Granted, he wasn't at his strongest after the electric whip treatment either. There; he had it. He gripped the turning lever, and let his arm be yanked back down. His hand was nearly torn from the cold metal, but he help on through grim determination and fell to the floor. He dragged himself to his feet and ran to the door. There was a keypad on the door, and Artemis let his fingers play across the surface, luckily this door was not alarmed, and he was out in the hall in only a few minutes. Then he ran. Right , Left, Left, Middle, Right, Artemis tried to keep track of the way he went, but didn't do very well. By shear dumb luck, he made it to a door with a camera screen set into it. The camera was all white, and, for a moment, he thought he was looking at white out, then he realized that it was snow. He let his fingers play across the board again and, unfortunately, this door WAS alarmed. The siren slowed him down for a bit, but then his fingers flew faster, so that they were a blur. The door opened, and the freezing air washed over him. Very cold air. For a few seconds he had doubts about it. Then he heard footsteps behind him, and realized that his choice had been made for him. He stepped into the cold air, and was instantly buffeted by the gales, and could hardly see ten inches in front of him. The whole world was white, then lights cut through the air from behind him, and he realized his captors were giving chase. Artemis stumbled blindly through the snow. He would rather die out here than die there, and he had no doubt that since he had escaped, if he was recaptured, they would double security on him, and escape would be impossible, and rescue improbable. So he kept going. Stumbling along, until he fell. He did his best to get up, he really did, and managed to get to his hands and knees, crawling along, his track even more obvious, and he was cold. So cold. He did his best not to think about the probabilities that anyone would find him. It was very likely he would freeze to death, or be picked up by the kidnappers. He didn't even know if his friends were here, for heaven's sake. It had been stupid to do this. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," he berated himself. His friends might have rescued him if he'd just been patient and stayed put. But that would put his friends in danger. Something he didn't want to happen. This is not really me. I don't do this kind of stuff, he thought. That in order to protect my friends, I go out into the Arctic wilderness. Lovely. He shook his head. The ground appeared to be jumping ever-so slightly. Then the Vehicle rushed into view. They had found him. Small beings emerged from inside. A little taller than the average fairy, thought Artemis, but not by much. Somehow, he heaved himself upright, his hands clumsy, so cold he couldn't really feel them. The creatures came toward him, holding something that looked suspiciously like stun batons. Uh oh, that wasn't good. Artemis looked at them.

"Come quietly, and we won't hurt you," one called.

No way, thought Artemis. He took a step back. "I won't go with you," he said, and was surprised at the amount of strength behind his own words.

"Oh, you don't have a choice, Mud Boy," someone laughed.

"I do." Artemis turned and began to run. He expected to feel the sting of a buzz baton, but felt instead a fist connect hard with his back. "Ooof," he grunted as he hit the snow. He began to crawl again. Someone grabbed him around the neck and he dropped. Artemis kicked at the person who held him, and with a grunt the hands unfastened from around his neck. Artemis was quietly surprised in the back of his mind. He was normally no good at fighting. Then someone hit him hard on the back of his head and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious.

**A/N: I love reviews. I love to find out what people do or don't like about my story or writing style. Again, the faster I get reviews, the faster I'll update!**


	8. Pale Skin, Blood, and Sparks

**A/N: I won't be able to update Saturday, I'll try to update Sunday, but I'll be in Illionois, and my laptop simply refuses to connect to any network other than my home one... No surprise since it's over six years old, but, I hope you enjoy!**

The girl Athena was in the point position, leading them toward the fort where Artemis HAD been. Of course, he wasn't there now, but as Athena pointed out, it was a place to start.

"He had to start there, unless he flew, which I doubt," she had said when Mulch had asked why they were going to the place that we were sure he WASN'T.

"And, how do you know that he's not there?" Holly asked.

"The alarms. They're going off, which would only happen if a prisoner escaped. Well, more accurately, if someone didn't get the door code after the third try."

"The THIRD try?" asked Holly incredulously. Athena shrugged.

"Aeri aren't always very good with remembering numbers. Most of them anyway. I'm relatively good at it." Athena seemed slightly distracted as she talked, as though her mind were somewhere else. Then a beep. The thermal imager had picked up a signal. A strong signal and a lot of other strong signals as well. Athena looked over Holly's shoulder.

"They're going toward Teya's fort," she remarked. "Which they wouldn't do unless they had completed their quest, which is probably finding Artemis."

"So we should go after them?" Athena looked at Mulch with eyebrows raised.

"Obviously," she said, and turned toward the heat signatures.

They got close enough to the vehicles to see inside, but too far away to be anywhere close enough before the vehicles entered the fort, which, Holly thought, looked more like a fortress, than a fort. "Yikes," came Foaly's voice in her ear, making her jump. The centaur had been so quiet that she had forgotten he was there.

"What have you been doing that you weren't able to offer technical support?" She demanded.

"Caboline made me go home," the centaur sulked.

"Made you? MADE YOU!? Holly said, incredulously, still running for all she was worth.

"Yes, Holly. Made me."

"During a CRISIS!?" Holly's voice was getting higher, and higher. Suddenly, Butler let out a gasp. Holly looked up, and what she saw, almost stopped her heart. Artemis. He was so pale, pale as though he had no blood. Or as though... but she couldn't let that thought into her mind. He was always pale… right? His hair was matted with blood. So much blood. He was in the back compartment of one of the cars. Desperation lent her strength. Her and Butler. Mulch couldn't really run, and so had gone back to the shuttle. Or rather, had stayed with it. Athena sprinted ahead of them. But as fast as she was, Athena wouldn't be in time. She did manage to touch the back of the car, but it accelerated, and she was left behind. Panting.

Artemis regained consciousness slowly. Oddly enough, he felt fine. Well, when he thought of the blue warmth in his head, it really wasn't so odd. He wasn't in the same room he had been in before. It was smaller. Much smaller. He seemed to be tied to a chair. Ah, he thought, back to the Stone Age. There was someone else there. A girl. No, a small woman. A small woman, with orange eyes. "Hello, Artemis Fowl," she said, and Artemis recognized her voice from earlier. The woman had black hair, and slightly pointed ears. "I must admit," she went on, "That I was surprised that you still had the Sparks." Sparks, so, that was what these beings called that particular energy. But, he had to admit, that he was surprised he had any either. Very surprised. But this could be a major, and very needed, development. Artemis couldn't help it. He smiled.

**A/N: Question: What exactly are the Sparks to which Teya is referring?**

**Hope you liked it!**


	9. Escape and Weapons

Holly lay on the cold, snowy ground, gasping for breath. Butler was pushing on the door, his face purple with effort. Athena was trying to get him to stop. Holly was surprised that the door hadn't buckled already. "Butler, let me open it. I'm sure I can," pleaded Athena. Reluctantly, Butler stood aside, and Athena approached the door. She placed her hands against the freezing cold metal, but, unlike Butler, she wasn't pushing the door. She just placed her hands there and appeared to concentrate. A thin stream of smoke trickled from between her fingers. Funny, that, thought Holly, It's almost as if she's melting… Holly could hardly suppress a gasp. It WAS melting! The girl was melting her way through the door, somehow. Eventually, a hole big enough even for Butler to squeeze through, if barely. Now they were in, and just needed to find Artemis

. . . .  
Meanwhile

Artemis watched the door close behind the creature, and breathed out a sigh of relief. He had managed to steal the keys to the handcuffs when the creature, Teya, had walked behind him. "Your friends cannot help you," she had said, leaning over him. Then, he had felt the cold metal against the back of his hand. The keys, he had realized, if he could steal those keys, he could unlock the handcuffs holding his hands behind the chair. And he had managed it, somehow, and with a certain amount of luck. Just as he lifted the ring of keys from her belt, the door opened and she spun around. Artemis quickly slipped the ring of keys up his sleeve. That had not been as easy as the movies made it look, as the keys were not immune to gravity and kept trying to fall from this sleeves. But it had worked, and now he was working to find the right key for the handcuffs and soon was unlocking himself.

With his free hands, Artemis untied himself from the chair, and rubbed some of the feeling back into his legs. He stood up, a bit unsteady on numb legs, and looked at the keypad on the door. This one probably WAS alarmed, so he had one chance. He thought back to the other keypads, they most likely had the same combination. Those two did, and Artemis tried it. The door slid open, and Artemis darted through.

There was a sentry at the end of the hall, and Artemis ducked down behind a stack of sacks outside the door. He appeared to be in a supply hallway, there were boxes and sacks, crates and baskets, full of what seemed to be full of food, weapons, and clothing. He peeked out from behind the sacks, and, when the sentry's back was turned, dashed to a stack of crates. In this way, he made his way to the end of the hallway. When Artemis got to the end of the hallway however, he needed to find a way to distract the sentry long enough for him to get down the hallway.

He looked at the crates in front of him. These were full of weapons, Artemis took one. He flipped the setting to the stun setting, and leveled it at the sentry, who had his back turned. Artemis aimed slowly, and fired. The man fell, and it would have been soundless, were it not for the fact that the man tumbled into a crate full of more weapons, which all went off with a BANG, and showered the wall with bullets. Artemis took off, flying down the hallway like a bullet shot from a gun, pure terror fueled his adrenaline as more of the creatures appeared in front of him.

He stopped, breathing hard, and saw a hallway going right. He took it. But this hallway was a dead end. A VERY dead end. Artemis stared at the wall, then back at the hoard of the small people. They were all brandishing some serious looking weapons, buzz batons, guns, some even had knifes and swords. Artemis pressed his back against the wall, wishing he could dissolve into thin air.

Holly ran through the hallways, towards the noise. The noise that sounded suspiciously like gunshots, a very loud racket. She had long been plagued by the thought that Artemis probably had his own plan, and as likely as not, this plan would be really rather dangerous for the Irish boy. The group heard yelling, and turned toward the noise. Artemis. Holly skidded to a stop, Athena and Butler beside her. Artemis had his back to the wall, and was face to face with a band of weapon brandishing group of Athena's people, the Aeri. Artemis looked up, and saw them. "Don't worry…" he said, and someone shot him and he crumpled to the floor.


	10. Magic, No More Mutes, and Shuttles

**A/N: Updated this chapter today too, so people didn't label me as a character Murderer So yeah... I REALLY appreciate reviews. If I can get at least two reviews on this chapter, I'll update another two within the week.**

When Artemis fell, Athena turned pale, Holly screamed and felt tears in her eyes, and Butler charged. He charged the creatures, Athena right behind him, and Holly with them as well. She was with them, and she was alone. It was an odd feeling, this odd, detached way of fighting. She saw herself knock out one of the Aeri, and grab his gun, switching the setting to stun, even though she didn't know why. These people weren't technically part of the fairy families, but they probably had been at some point.

Part of her screamed to kill these beings, the beings who killed Artemis, but somehow, her mind was calm. When they had decimated most of the squadron and the rest had fled, Holly and Butler went to Artemis's side. Holly saw, to her astonishment and relief, that Artemis was not dead, though he was close. She bent to heal him, but Athena held her back.

"Watch," the girl said. Blue sparks traveled the length of Artemis's arm, and sunk into his wounded shoulder. The sparks seemed to be hesitant at first, but then they flowed more and more quickly. Color rushed back into Artemis's pale face, well, as much color as there ever was.

With a groan he sat up and pushed the hair away from his brow. "Wow, I forgot how good magic felt," he remarked, and Holly hugged him.

"HOLLY!" oops, Foaly. She had muted the annoying Centaur, in order to get some peace and to be able to concentrate on finding Artemis.

"Yeah Foaly?"

"Don't sound so innocent, Captain. You muted me. On purpose."

"Sorry, friend, what did you want to tell me that couldn't wait?"

"Mulch is flying the shuttle to your position." "Mulch!" spluttered Holly incredulously. "Mulch can't fly a shuttle!"

"Why not? He's actually doing very well."

"Well," said Holly, miffed, "I'll be sure to tell him you said that."

"Holly, no, please. Don't condemn me to listening to that dwarf gloating the next time we meet!" Holly rolled her eyes.

"Okay, Foaly just shut up."

"How did you know he had magic?" Holly asked Athena. The girl blushed slightly.

"I gave it to him. When I touched the back of the car, I sent the Sparks through the floor to him.

"You sent what to him?" asked Butler, raising his eyebrows.

"Sparks. You call it magic."

"Holly, tell that Mud girl, or whatever she is, that you CAN'T give humans magic!"

"Foaly," Holly said, "If that girl says that's what happened, I'm not going to argue with her."

"No, no, I mean, it goes against the book!"

"The book, in case you haven't made this observation yet, says nothing about Aeri."

"Alright alright," muttered the Centaur.

"You know, we should be getting out of here," stated Artemis as he got to his feet. He was still a little unsteady, and Butler reached out a hand to sturdy the boy. Artemis smiled at the bodyguard by way of thanks, and asked Holly to lead the way.

They stood outside now, the cold wind whipping their faces as they waited for Mulch to show up. "I can't wait to get clean of this anti- radiation gel," commented Butler dryly.

"And I can't wait to get warm," Artemis muttered. He was wearing one of the outfits that they had found in the crates, clearly for going out into the barren wastes of the arctic. He was still cold however, and Holly looked over at him. He was shivering, his teeth chattering.

"Same old Artemis Fowl," she said with a smile. Athena looked at her. "Actually, Aeri are good with cold temperatures, one thing that tells us apart from other fairies, even humans. So that jumpsuit probably isn't going to do much for him."

"Good thing Mulch is here then," commented Butler, and they looked up to see a square of light hovering in the air. "Finally," Artemis said, as they all hurried inside.


	11. Being Bright to Blend In

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to the two people who have reviewed my story and given their support! You know who you are! You're amazing! I update for people like you! Enjoy,. (p.s. I'm going to Madrigal practice tonight, so I may add another chapter when I get back.)**

As they entered the shuttle and the door closed behind them, Holly rushed to the piloting chair and pushed Mulch onto the floor.

"Hey, you're welcome for the rescue," grumbled Mulch sulkily.

"Go, go, go!" shouted Athena in Holly's ear, and she blasted up into the air.

"Why the fast take off, Captain?" asked Foaly. "You're shielded."

"Because, the rest of the conscious Eari will be following, and our shuttles have anti- shield filters," grunted Athena as she strapped herself in the copilot's chair.

Holly was surprised. "You can hear him?" she asked.

"Well he doesn't exactly keep his voice down, does he?" was the response.

Holly couldn't disagree, and she also supposed that Athena had more sensitive hearing than she did.

The shuttle lurched, and Holly heard cries from behind her.

"Go up, Eari shuttles can only go up about 50 kilometers."

"Athena, WE can hardly go that far," answered Holly as she avoided another laser.

Athena bit her lip. "How fast can you go?"

Holly shrugged, "fast. This, unfortunately is not a super-sonic shuttle."

Athena was thinking hard. Holly could tell because she had almost exactly the same expression Artemis did when he thought up one of his trademark crazy and ingenious plans.

"We have to abandon the shuttle, and go on foot." Athena said haltingly as the shuttle lurched once again. "Try to get close to an airport and land the shuttle."

Not exactly a plan like one Artemis could come with, but what did she expect? Besides, this one actually made sense.

Artemis made his way to the front of the shuttle. "We need a plan," he said. Athena told him her idea.

"That…" Artemis had been about to say 'That's crazy' when it hit him, that it might work. "Could work, if we could lose them for a moment." He looked at Holly.

"I can get us to an airport, that's all I can guarantee," she said with a furrowed brow. The shuttle groaned as she put it through yet another tight role and brought it up sharply to avoid more laser bolts from the Eari shuttle. She kept it up as long as she possibly could, and did manage to get them to a field next to a small airport, crash landing into the grove of Russian Olives.

"Everyone alright!?" called Holly as soon as she had gotten her breath back.

A chorus of 'yes's answered her and she breathed a sigh of relief.

They all worked their way out of the wreckage and stumbled into the bright sunlight. They had been flying for at least an hour, and the Eari shuttle was still behind them, though it was too far away to have seen them land. Although land was a rather gentle word, crash was more like it.

. . .

Running was not Artemis's thing, nevertheless, this was just what Artemis was doing. He also seemed to be keeping up with Mulch, not that that meant much. Mulch was not very fast aboveground. Athena though, she was fast. She was even in front of Holly, and it seemed she was used to running in places such as this grove of trees. When they reached the edge of the field, holly signaled to them to hide behind the trees, and pointed to the airport in front of them. There was a large fence, but that did not concern him unduly. What concerned him was the number of people. They had no cam foil, and Butler and Mulch could not shield, quite apart from the fact that Artemis himself didn't quite know how to switch on that particular power. But… he didn't dwell on that fact.

"And, how, exactly are we going to get on a plane without being spotted?" Holly asked Athena.

"We go in with the luggage," she answered. Mulch snorted in disbelief. "I don't mean that we get INTO the bags, I mean we get into one of the luggage bays of a plane. Not one going far away, just so long as it's not HERE."

"How do we GET to a luggage bay?" asked Holly.

"Simple. We grab a few vests, you know, the bright yellow vests. There are some over there. And then we just walk. If we act as if we belong, we shouldn't really be spotted."

Artemis couldn't imagine him ever belonging somewhere like this place, but he did not object as the Aeri climbed the fence followed by Holly and the others. Artemis was last, and not having an easy time of it. He got over on his fourth attempt and wordlessly put on the bright yellow vest holly handed him.

"We wear THIS in order to not get noticed?" Mulch asked incredulously.

Athena glanced at him, then to Artemis. "Is he always so, for lack of a better word, Stupid and unobservant?"

Artemis shrugged. "I think he's trying to be sarcastic, but, then again, maybe not. But yeah, he is often unobservant."

Athena nodded and began walking toward a plane. "Any desired location?"

"Ireland." Artemis responded immediately.

Athena changed direction. "This plane is going to Dublin. That good enough?"

"Yes"

"Athena," said Holly, "I think that it's about time you told us who you are. Who the Aeri are."

"I will," answered the girl. "But after we're on the plane."

They managed to get into the plane luggage bay, just barely. Butler had to crouch down once inside and really looked rather uncomfortable. And then, Athena began her story.


	12. Explanations, and Other Oddities

"Well, as far as I can make out, the Aeri were fairies at one point in time, however, something, I'm not sure what, happened to a certain group of them. This is even before your king Frond. Whatever happened, it made them… not fairies. The history that we are taught in this subject is of course very twisted and one-sided, but this is what we are told. The other fairies shunned these… different beings, who called themselves the Aeri. Aeri in our old language, means 'the enlightened' I'm not sure if that's what it means in gnomish…"

"It is," Artemis assured her.

"Thank you, Artemis, anyway, those, the first Aeri, went to establish their own colony. When humans took control of the Earth, they kept to themselves. Not that they had ever NOT kept to themselves, in fact, the fairy race had even forgotten all about them in less than a generation."

"Really? I guess THAT'S why Foaly couldn't find out anything about you on his computers."

"Okay, yeah, I suppose that would be a reason. Now, where was I? Oh yes, humans. Well, we kept to ourselves, mostly, although a few Aeri DID marry humans and have a child with them. Then the Aeri in question would normally either integrate into the human world, which happened maybe one out of every hundred, or, most often, the human would be integrated into the Aeri community." Athena cocked her head to one side. "I think we're going down the runway now, although, apart from the cold, we should be alright. The suits have pressure coils," she looked at Holly, "Or, at least, they better have."

Mulch looked at Holly, who barely suppressed a laugh. Mulch's look was pure terror. Wordlessly, she nodded.

"They are," she managed to choke out. Mulch looked considerably less terrified.

"What about big man over there though?" he asked, nodding at Butler.

Athena shrugged. "I managed to find a suit at the compound that fit him," she answered. Mulch raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Anyway, the humans would integrate into the Aeri community, but, more often than not, would die within a few years. I suppose that's because they were poisoned. Many Aeri didn't like living with humans. Not that there's any evidence that those humans were poisoned, but it's what I assume."

" Aeri have, or had, different powers than regular fairies. Enhanced agility, intelligence, and so on. Including different magical powers. Over time though, for some reason many Aeri lost some of those abilities. That is why Teya was attempting to capture me. I'm one of very few Aeri with our original powers. She doesn't, but wants it. She thinks that it's in the blood of the Aeri, and she used Aeri subjects before. She drains their blood. I think she got the idea from a book she read when she was a kid. Star Wars or something like that. Anyway, I've seen the bodies, and trust me, you'd better hope you don't. I read that book, and it describes the appearance of the bloodless bodies in a much more tasteful and unrevolting way than they actually look."

"What kind of powers do you have that fairies don't?" asked Artemis leaning forward.

Athena giggled. "You won't have them Mud-Boy. Those powers are in the mind of the Aeri. Human minds, even the minds of genius' aren't the same. You'll have the powers like you had before, after you stole the magic in a time-tunnel."

"How did you know he stole it in a time tunnel!?" asked Holly incredulously.

"Because the only way for a human to have stolen magic would be for them to be in a time tunnel. I suppose you brought the Demons back by use of a time tunnel. And you can tell where there HAS been magic, because that part of the brain is much more active than it would normally be. But to answer your question, Artemis, we can read minds, though I try not to, and I can't do it if someone knows about it and is covering their thoughts, like Holly's pretty much been doing unconsciously ever since I first read her mind about having gone to the Arctic before. And then there are the people like you, Artemis, who instinctively cover their thoughts. Even if you don't know you're doing it. That's what happens when you're a genius who's had contact with magic. And then we can hear and see better than most. We can do other things, but I prefer to keep those to myself. Much like dwarfs with their secret natural talents."

"When we first met you, you spoke another language. One not familiar to me. What was it?" Holly hoped Foaly was listening. "Well, that's The Aeri language. Some of it's gnomish, and some completely different."

"That's not what I expected. None of those words she said earlier had any relation to gnomish. Ask her what she said."

"Foaly, do you think she remembers every little thing she's said?"

"No. Good point, here's what she said." Holly asked Athena what she had meant when she had said those words that Foaly had relayed to her.

"Oh, that's easy. 'Acura magla faindoon. Ac'ameeda hagdoola. Hewrd tyerwif Fequilla,' means, roughly translated, 'Leave me be. You're a damn hag. And I've no thoughts of joining or helping you.' That's when I thought you were Teya, of course."

"Of course," repeated Holly.


	13. Not-So-Safe Safety and Uncertanty

**A/N: this chapter is dedicated to ****_The ObisidianEggplant_**** For all their reviews. Keep reviewing; I'll keep writing.**

"I suppose that that small amount of information isn't quite enough for your curiosity, but a plane isn't really the most secure location to divulge information like this," Athena said.

"I like her," Foaly said in Holly's ear.

"Shut up please Foaly, I'm sure that you have other officers in the field that could use your comments more than we can. Quite apart from the fact that you talking every five seconds distracts me, and I really ought to stay alert."

Foaly quickly shut off his mike to Holly's helmet; you didn't want to distract a LEP officer, particularly if the officer in question had a tongue sharper than any knife under the world.

. . .

The plane landed in Dublin airport a few hours later, and Athena shook Holly awake. The others were already moving to either side of the door.

"Holly, we need to get out."

"How do you plan on getting out without being noticed?" Holly asked.

Athena smiled, "I don't plan on getting out without being noticed. I plan on getting out quickly. Mulch is going to, ah… blast the guys when they come to get the luggage. Then we all run as fast as possible, if you can shield, do. The smaller the amount of people that can be seen, the better. Especially since then it will be only Butler and Mulch that will be seen. I taught Artemis how to shield, although I'm not sure if he can do it very confidently."

Holly rose and stood next to Artemis, giving him a reassuring smile. Athena frowned slightly, forehead wrinkling in thought. There was something going on between those two, although they probably didn't know it yet.

. . .

When the door hissed open, Mulch let fly. The two humans behind the door went flying, and everyone in the plane raced out, down the ramp, across the tarmac, and into the airport. Mulch was the last one through, and he slammed the door behind him.

Holly and the rest unshielded, and the group moved towards the doors out into the street. There was a car rental just across the road, and Butler went to get one.

They all piled in, and drove to Fowl Manor.

They went through the gate, and through the trees. Then the laser hit the ground right behind the car.

. . .

Athena grabbed the arm of the person nearest to her, which happened to be Artemis, and leapt out of the car. They hit the ground, and Athena dragged the boy to his feet. They ran to the tree line, along with Holly, Mulch and Butler.

"What- was- that?" gasped Holly.

"There's a ship above you, Captain, we're sending an attack shuttle to finish it off. Just hold off for about ten minutes…"

"Thanks Foaly," Holly responded.

"It's a four- seater, so Mulch, you, AND the girl can come below," the Centaur added.

Athena looked at Holly. "I need to ask you a favor. You need to promise me something."

"What?"

"That they won't experiment on me down there."

Holly hesitated. Foaly had said that they needed to find her partly so she could be studied to find out WHY she had that much magic. And yet, and yet… this girl had saved their lives, particularly Artemis's. That was something that couldn't easily be repaid, as Holly herself knew only too well. "If you do go below ground, you'll most likely be experimented on. Why?"

"Because that's what Teya wanted to do to me, remember?"

"You can stay here."

Athena turned around, "really?" she asked in a whisper.

Then they all ducked as a laser sizzled through the trees, but it was quite a few meters to their left, the shuttle was firing blindly. But Holly wished the attack shuttle Foaly had sent would turn up soon. They couldn't hide in these trees for very long.


	14. Lasers, and Political Circles

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to The ObsidianEggplant and shaadiaThePrincessOfWeird. You guys are AMAZING! And you Review!**

**A/N 2: I'm sorry if you don't like me making the LEP a little evil... it's just that with all that's going on in the world right now... it's difficult to even imagine an organization like the LEP that's all good... Yeah... I'm in one of my depressed moods right now... but Whatever! **

**Enjoy :)**

"Really," Artemis said, standing up again. "I can't think of any other place you could go where you would be safe from the LEP."

"That's a good idea Artemis, except, Foaly probably already told Trouble, Commander Kelp, that is, that we found her." Holly said as the Aeri Shuttle buzzed overhead.

"That would be a good thing to ask me, Captain."

"Well, DID you tell them?"

"Not exactly, but… but I DID tell the shuttle pilot."

"Oh, good. Who's the shuttle pilot?"

"Well… Trouble seemed to think that you would do something stupid, so … he went himself."

"What! You've GOT to be KIDDING me! This really complicates matters. No WAY is he going to let her stay here," Holly cried.

"We've gotten her through too much to have her taken by friends to be experimented on." Artemis' voice behind her made her jump.

Holly glanced at Athena. The girl was standing on one of the low branches of a nearby tree, gazing up at the shuttle. She looked so much younger, so much more vulnerable than she had looked through the whole adventure. Artemis was right. They couldn't do it. "Any plans as to how we accomplish that?" she asked.

"No, actually, I was hoping you might have an idea. You know Trouble much better than I do." Holly scowled.  
"Actually, Artemis, I think this adventure is missing only one thing, one of your crazy plans, and it's long overdue." Now it was Artemis's turn to scowl, although this one was more thoughtful than irritated.

"You know, I think that this is more about finding a loophole. The Book doesn't have anything about Aeri or humans, does it?"

"Not unless you count telling The People not to give the book to the Mud People and that stuff… no. And there's no mention of the Aeri at all." Holly answered, gazing up at Athena once more. "And with the whole loophole thing… Trouble wouldn't shy away from stunning first and asking questions later. Especially if you tried dancing political circles around him."

Then Athena came swarming down the tree like a squirrel. "Your attack shuttle is here!" she exclaimed. She looked so excited. And yet at the same time, fearful.

"Oh come on, we didn't survive Teya's people just to be defeated at the end of the adventure,"  
Artemis rubbed his forehead.

"Defeated, I didn't even think that was a word in your vocabulary Mud Boy," Mulch said, head popping up from the ground.

"What are you doing down there?" Holly asked, looking down.

"Underground's the safest place to be right now, you wanna came on down?"

"No thank you," said Holly and Artemis simultaneously.

"I thought not, that's what the Aeri girl, Athena said."

"Wait a second, Mulch, can you tunnel Athena into the manor?" asked Artemis, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

"I s'pose, long as you didn't make the wine cellar floor concrete…"

"I don't think I did, but you might want to check with Butler. If you can, I want you to tunnel Athena into the manor."

"No thank you, I don't want to be underground behind a tunneling dwarf. I may not know much about fairies in general, but that much I DO know."

"Athena, Mulch can hold it in until he gets to the manor, unless he accidently eats something that needs to get out right away, like a tire or something… THEN you need to get out of the way, and FAST."

"That's only funny if you don't have to be the one behind him." The girl grumbled, looking down at Mulch's grinning face.

"Well, if you don't get into the manor, then you will most likely be taken by the LEP and experimented on. And while I'm sure that it won't be as horrible or terminal as Teya's ways, I sincerely doubt you will enjoy it. So it's either be taken by the LEP, or get in that hole behind Mulch," Artemis said, looking up as the fairy and Aeri lasers danced across the sky.

"When you put it that way… let's get GOING!"


	15. Phobia, and The Commander

When Athena climbed out of the hole in the wine cellar, her legs shook and her face looked pasty white.

"That was probably the scariest thing I have ever been through."

"What, including being chased by that Teya, and, at one point, us?" asked the Dwarf. What was his name again? Oh yeah, Mulch.

"Yes, including all of that," Athena joked.

"Hmmm," muttered Mulch. "I guess we need to work on that, don't we."

"Sure," answered Athena absently. Then, "I wonder what's going on up there."

…

"Well, this is quite the predicament we find ourselves in," muttered Holly, looking sideways at Artemis and Butler.

"Yes, but I think that we ought to remember, Commander Kelp is a friend. At least to you," Butler answered.

"Sure, but he doesn't like you very much. I think that he'll take Athena down below if he can. And, Artemis, why did you say that the LEP would do things she wouldn't want them to?"

"Well, on the way back here in the shuttle, she told me that she has a fear of going underground. She could have rupophobia; fear of dirt, but that doesn't quite cover it. She seemed quite comfortable in the shuttle and that's most of where I've seen her. But when I brought up the underground fairy community, she got rather tense," Artemis explained. "It seems to me to be some sort of racial memory. I don't think she even really notices it, but is unconsciously trying to get over it. Basically the only thing that could encourage her to go underground is her fear of Teya and/ or living underground basically all her life."

"That sounds complicated. How can you be afraid of something, and not know it?"

Artemis shrugged. "Denial, refusal to know that they are afraid of something, or just that your used to it. If it is indeed a racial memory, then she would have had that fear since she was a baby, so she wouldn't really notice it, or take note of the fear."

"Oh," said Holly, "Okay. How's Trouble doing, Foaly?"

"He's just about won, the enemy shuttle's shields are just about gone… wait, wait, the shuttle is leaving. Get ready Captain, you're gonna have a lot of explaining to do."

"Alright, Artemis, here he comes. Get ready, oh, and are we gonna tell him that Athena's in the manor?"

"We could, but he could just march right in there you know."

"No he couldn't," said Butler.

"True, not if you don't want him to," conceded Artemis. "Just follow my lead Captain."

Holly was about to argue, after all, she held seniority here, but just then the shuttle landed and Trouble came out. And she got kind of nervous.

"Greetings, Commander," said Artemis.

"Fowl," returned the Commander. Holly could picture Artemis rolling his eyes.

"Where's this Aeri?" The Commander asked. No beating around the bush then, thought Holly.

"Why?" asked Artemis.

The Commander snorted. "You know why Fowl. So they don't do anything that could compromise the Lower Elements."

"And?"

"And so we can find out how much magic she has, exactly, and find out how she has so much."

"Why do you need to do that? I mean, she's been on Earth for quite a while, and even you didn't find her until recently. Humans are eons behind you in technology. Well, most humans."

"This is not an interrogation, Fowl!"

"I'm simply looking for a good reason to tell you where she is. She's done nothing wrong, but even if she had, The Book says nothing, I repeat, nothing, about Aeri. So you hold no jurisdiction over her."

"Whatever Fowl," said the Commander. "Where is the Aeri?"

"Like I just told you, I don't have to tell you. You can't take her against her will. And she has said she doesn't want to go underground."

Kelp narrowed his eyes. "Oh really, Fowl? How do I know that you're telling the truth? Maybe you're the one holding her."

"He's telling the truth, Commander," interjected Holly. "The girl doesn't want to go underground. And she could probably tell us everything we want to know without going underground. She's really rather smart."

"Hmmm… maybe," murmured the Commander.

**A/N: Faster I get reviews, faster I update a chapter. Hope you're liking it.**


	16. The Commander and Part of the Why

**A/N: The next few chapters may be a little... drawn out. I'm sorry, I'm just really bad at ending stories. :P**

"Hmm… maybe," Trouble said. Holly felt her spirits rise.

"But it's against procedure. And if the counsel found out…"

"For heaven's sake Trouble! You're the freaking' commander! You can do like, whatever you want." Holly responded, rolling her eyes.

"FYI, Captain Short… I can't do whatever I want… but I do take your point. And if Fowl here was willing to tell us where the perp is… maybe we can work out something like that."

"I obviously will not tell you unless you promise not to take her underground, or make her do anything against her will," Artemis warned.

The Commander glared at him. "You'll tell me whether or not I make a promise. And any such promise will not, I repeat, not, be forthcoming."

"Then neither will the location of Athena."

Holly rolled her eyes. "Males…." She muttered. They were all the same, it didn't matter the species. Arguing, couldn't-agree-on-anything-to-save-their-lives, males.

"Hey, how about this, we just ask Athena what she thinks," Holly suggested.

The two arguing beings looked at each other, then back at her. Then at each other again. Holly laughed at the look of stupefied surprise on their faces. And Artemis was supposed to be the genius….

"I'll go find her…" Artemis said, and he walked briskly toward the manor, followed by Butler.

Trouble rolled his eyes. "I might have guessed she was in the manor. I could have even entered it without his permission, since Number One lifted that curse."

"No you couldn't."

"Yes, Holly, I could."

"Not if Butler didn't want you to."

Trouble paled slightly. "Good point, Captain. One of the few Mud-Men dwellings that still require permission to enter. What a shame…," he sighed.

Holly said nothing, simply turning to look towards the Manor, her thoughts on Artemis. During all the running and fighting and thinking, she had tried to put her feelings for him from her mind. She had felt there was no time for that. Now it seemed there was.

Even she didn't quite know what her thoughts for Artemis were yet, but she had to admit that the more she tried to convince herself he was just her friend, the less she believed it. She didn't know exactly what it was she did believe, and it would take awhile to untangle her thoughts and feelings from the web they had become entangled in.

"And here they come…" said a voice by her feet, startling Holly out of her thoughts.

Trouble looked down at Mulch. "Who?"

Mulch rolled his eyes. "I can see why you became Commander… you've got such a smart head on those shoulders…."  
"Not now, Diggums…"

"Well, the Athena girl and Artemis. Not to mention Butler."

"Wait… Athena's with them?"

Mulch looked at Holly. "Wow, I'm surrounded by geniuses today," he joked, rolling his eyes.

Holly looked up as Artemis, Athena, and Butler came into sight. Athena looked wary and tired, but at the same time completely at ease.  
"Artemis sais you want to ask me something," she said to Trouble as they drew closer.

"Yes, I do, Athena." If Trouble had hoped to surprise or intimidate the girl with the fact he knew her name, he was sorely disappointed.

"Well then, let me make something very clear right now. I'm not going underground, no matter what you say."

"Can I ask why, perhaps?" Trouble asked, arching one eyebrow.

"I. AM. NOT. GOING. UNDER. GROUND. Because I have no wish to. PERIOD, EXCLAMATIONPOINT!"

Such was the look in Athena's eyes, that Trouble actually took a step back. "Are you sure we couldn't make you? For your… and our… safety?" he asked hesitantly.

"For the first question… YES I'M SURE DAMNIT! For the second, sorry, but no. I'm much safer here, I think. And even if I'm wrong," she added, before Trouble could speak, "I'd rather be wrong than underground the rest of my life."

"And," said Holly quietly, "I'd kind of like to know why that is Athena. Could you tell us?"

Athena looked at her thoughtfully. "You know… I'm not sure. I've just got this feeling that the rest of my life would be shortened dramatically if I went down there to Haven or Atlantis."


	17. Mulch, and Who Cares About The Council?

**A/N: Sorry this chapter's so short. I promise I'll try to update again tomorrow. Crazy school schedule notwithstanding.**

"What do you mean? How would going underground shorten your life?"

Athena sighed. "I thought you were supposed to be Commander. I just said, I don't know. It's just a feeling. But I trust my feelings."

"Feelings? You mean that you won't come down to Haven because you're a little nervous?"

"Yes. That's exactly what I'm saying." Athena's answer must have through Trouble off, because he looked quite surprised.

"Uh…," Trouble said uncertainly, "okay then… umm."

"Listen," Athena said gently, "I'd be willing to let your people run those tests on me, but not underground. If you can come up here, well, then you can run whatever tests you want. Just so long as you never make me go underground. Not until I'm ready."

Trouble hesitated. "I'll have to ask the…"

Holly cut him off. "No, you don't. You're Commander. And, quite honestly, the council… many of them don't know what they're talking about most of the time."

"Well, Short, I can see how you got your Captain's acorns," Captain Kelp said, rolling his eyes. "But alright. The council can wait."

"Did you get that Foaly?" asked Holly into her helmet mike.

"On my way, Captain," was the reply.

"Alright," she said, turning to the others. "Foaly's on his way."

Mulch groaned. "Whoopee. I get to see pony boy. I was hoping to get through one of these things without having that uppity Centaur ask me questions 'till I drop afterwards."

Commander Kelp chuckled. "Well, welcome to the world of the LEP, Mulch."

"Watch it, Commander, I aint one of your puppet fairies, no offense Holly."

"Ah, one day, huh Mulch," said an obviously offended Holly.


	18. Foaly, A Lot of Magic, and Family

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to everyone who reads it. AND MOSTLY TO THOSE WHO REVIEW! SO, enjoy :)**

When Foaly got to the others, the shuttle was so crowded with techy stuff, that Holly was surprised the centaur could fit in it.

"Hello, everybody," the centaur said, as he clopped down the steps onto the grass.

"Hey Foaly," said Holly.

"And this must be Athena," the centaur said, turning to the Aeri girl.

"Yup, that's my name," she answered, looking a little warily at the shuttle behind the centaur.

"Artemis, why are we out here? Can't we go inside?" asked Commander Kelp.

Artemis shook his head. "My family is home, and I'm just hoping they don't come outside."

Foaly shook his head. "You must be losing your edge, Artemis. You're just hoping they don't find us?"

Artemis scowled at the centaur. "You must be rubbing off on me," he answered. "Now," he said, before Foaly could formulate a retort, "I do believe the reason you came here as something to do with Athena?"

"Right," the centaur said tightly, and he went over to the shuttle to begin unloading his equipment.

Athena leaned toward Holly and whispered, "Those two don't get along very well, do they?"

Holly shook her head. "I think that's just how all males talk to each other. "

"Especially when they both think they're smarter than the other," chimed in Mulch.

"Oh, yeah, because you get along so well with him," Holly said sarcastically. Holly made a mental note never to believe Foaly when he claimed something had mellowed him, and never ever to believe Mulch if he said the same thing.

The first thing Foaly brought out of the shuttle was a portable mag sensor. "All this will do is tell me how much magic you have in your system," he said, when Athena flinched a little.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She said, looking up at the sky as Foaly scanned her.

When he was done, Foaly let out a breath and said, "Whoa… okay, I didn't expect that…"

"What is it Foaly?" asked the Commander impatiently.

"Well… Athena has almost double the amount of magic as No 1." Holly was surprised, she had known the Aeri girl had a lot of magic, but double the amount that No 1 had… that was more than she had expected.

The commander shook his head. "How is that possible?"

"It's quite simple. I'm pure Aeri," Athena said.

"Remember when I said that some Aeri married humans? Well, those children seemed to have less sparks than their parents. So many Aeri had children with humans, in fact, that it was well neigh impossible to get that amount of magic back."

"So how come you do?" asked Mulch, an intelligent question for once.

She shrugged. "Because I wasn't really born. I was sort of… created. From nature; I guess it just won't give up on us. I think there's another pure Aeri out there somewhere too… a boy. Well it would make sense, wouldn't it?" she asked, when Foaly raised his eyebrows. "Why would I have been created if there was no way for there to be a line of pure Aeri descended from me? And probably from a few others?"

"Well… actually I was thinking about the created from nature thing. Could you… explain that?"

"I already basically said I don't know. The first thing I can remember is my adoptive mother finding me. She said I looked to be about six years old. That's all I know for sure."

"You have a family?" asked Mulch. "We found you in an alley threatening to slit our throats!"

Athena looked sad all of the sudden. "Had," she corrected quietly, "I had a family. They're dead now. Teya killed them. She thought… well… she thought I was their real daughter. That they might be pure Aeri too; the monster even killed Ave, my little brother. And he was just five."

This hit Holly hard. She and Athena shared a past in which megalomaniacs killed everyone who cared about them. Well… almost everyone. She still had Foaly and Artemis and, Frond help her, Mulch. Athena had had no one. And if Artemis and Athena's experiences were anything to go on… then Opal might have a competitor for megalomaniac of the century.


	19. Generosity, a New Home, and a Full Moon

**A/N: This chapter is dedicated to ****_Arty'ssister_**** for the review, and, of course, all the others who reviewed! :) ENJOY.**

"Well if you have no family… where will you go?" asked the Commander. "We can't just leave you on your own. You're just a child."

"I believe I made it quite clear that I was not going underground. And quite obviously I can look after myself," Athena answered, eyebrows raised. Holly wondered though. After all, living in an alley in a large human city was dangerous to any magical being, even without being chased by an evil megalomaniac who quite literally wanted your blood. She looked over at Artemis, hoping the genius could think of something, anything really. But she was not prepared for what he did say.

"If you're willing," he said quietly to Athena, "you could live here, at Fowl Manor."

"You're kidding Fowl," Commander Kelp said incredulously. "She can't stay here. What if your family…"

"To be quite honest Commander, my mother already knows. She's not wildly keen on it, but she knows about it. So whether the rest of my family finds out is of no consequence," Artemis said.

Trouble's mouth dropped. "You told her about us Fowl?" he asked ominously.

"You think I had much choice after Opal took over her mind? She basically knew everything anyway."

"You could have had us mind-wipe her…"

"My own mother?!" asked Artemis incredulously. "Sorry, but I have a conscience now."

"Are we gonna keep arguing about what is past or move forward?" asked Athena, who had been watching the verbal sparring round with a look of amusement prominent on her features. "I gratefully accept your most gracious offer, Artemis," she said, eliciting a laugh from Mulch.

"You should see your face, Commander," he said. "You look like you just swallowed a stink…"

"That is quite enough, Diggums. Don't you have something better to do, like catch some low-down criminals with your low-down criminal partner?"

"Watch it, Commander though you may be, I have ways…"

"Yeah, yeah whatever; why don't you just hightail your rear back underground to Haven Dwarf," the Commander said, narrowing his eyes at Mulch.

"Alright you two, lets save all the male verbal sparring routines 'till we're back home underground," Holly said, rolling her eyes.

"Well, now we just need to convince Mother and Father that they need a daughter," Artemis said.

Athena blew a breath. "Well, it can't hurt to try," she said to Foaly, who rolled his eyes.

"When you tell your mother about your latest adventure, Arty, don't forget to mention that the fairy people are being very gracious about not mind-wiping the lot of you," he called to the Irish boy. Holly elbowed him hard in the ribs. "Hey," he exclaimed, rubbing his new sore spot.

"Oh, shut up Foaly, you deserved that," she said as Artemis and Athena walked away through the grove of trees.

"So true, Holly, he did- OW!"

"And you deserved that, Mulch."

"Alright, Foaly, you take the tech shuttle home. The rest of us will go in the attack shuttle," Trouble said.

"Actually, Commander, I was hoping Foaly could spare a set of wings," Holly said. "I wanted to complete the ritual. I'm running a little low and coincidentally there's gonna be a full moon tonight."

He waved his hand. "Alright; Pony boy, give Captain Short a pair of wings. I want you back to work in two days, Short. No less."

"Yes Commander", Holly said. She took the wings Foaly gave her, and strapped them on her back. She waited until the others had gone, then shielded and flew toward Fowl manor. She wanted to congratulate Athena on finding her new family. And Artemis, on having a new sister.

**A/N: Just one chapter left... and as soon as I get 4 more reviews I shall post it. Peace. :P**


	20. A New Family, a Little Kiss, and The End

**A/N: Come on people! I asked for four reviews, I got two. I'm finishing the story... but I expect my readers to pick up the lax. Just Kidding, But I really DO want reviews... :( ENJOY :)**

"Artemis... who is this?" asked his mother as Artemis walked into her room. She looked at Athena curiously.

"This is Athena; she's... kind of a fairy; she's an Aeri..."

"Artemis," his mother interrupted. "Did you go on another one of those fairy adventures again?"

Artemis quelled slightly under the look she gave him. "I..."

"The truth, Artemis," she warned.

"Yes," he admitted. "But it wasn't supposed to be dangerous; just a reconnaissance mission, nothing more."

"It was quite dangerous by the look of it," Angeline Fowl said, looking pointedly at his shoulder. Brow wrinkling in slight confusion, Artemis looked down.

"Well," he said, voice sounding surprised but not too worried. The shoulder of the jacket was a little darker than the fabric around it. He knew the shirt beneath would be red-brown with dried blood. But there was no wound. The magic now in his system had erased even the scar.

His mother stood and walked over to him, placing a gentle hand on his clean shoulder. He looked up into her eyes. "Mother?" he asked quietly.

"Yes, Arty?" she asked. Artemis noticed that Athena was still standing awkwardly in the doorway.

"Mother, Mom, can Athena stay with us?"

His mother looked at him questioningly. "Stay with us?" she asked carefully.

"Um, yeah... you see, her family is dead and..."

"Artemis!" his mother said, sounding incredulous, surprised.

Then he thought of what he had just said. He looked at Athena. Artemis wanted to apologize... but he didn't know how. "Oh Gods... I'm so sorry..."

Athena laughed. "Don't worry about it, Tactless. I don't think about it anymore."

"Would you like a new family?" asked Angeline softly.

Athena looked up, and her face lit up. Her slightly rueful smile lost the rueful part, and she ran forward to hug Angeline Fowl. "Yes!" she said. Suddenly she pulled back. "Sorry," she muttered.

"Oh Honey," Angeline said, and pulled Athena back into a hug. "If you'd like, welcome home."

Holly hovered outside the bedroom window, watching as Athena was welcomed by Angeline Fowl. As Angeline lead Athena away into the Manor, Artemis glanced at the window. Holly unshielded, and flew into the room when Artemis opened the window. She punched him on the shoulder.

"Smooth, Mudboy," she muttered.

"Lay off," Artemis muttered. But he smiled.

Holly shook her head. "I worry that Teya will try something."

Artemis shrugged. "I think Athena will be safe enough if she..."

On a crazy impulse, Holly leaned forward, and kissed Artemis' cheek. "Just keep her safe, okay?"

Without waiting for a response, Holly flew out the window, and angled towards Tara.

**A/N: Do you want a sequel? I have it about half-done on paper, and I can upload it if you want. But you have to TELL me you want.**


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